cutegirlmayra

Sokai AU cause unfathomable reasons.

Prompt:

The sandy grains of home were carried by the beach's breeze in the night, before carefully dropping down and remaining still as the dark cloaked the earth but kept the heavens abright.

Sora and Kairi lay on the cooled sand opposite the other, their faces side by side but upside down from one another, looking up at the sky.

Sora had just finished talking about all the different worlds he'd been too, and Kairi finished mundane talking about life back home and school, some friend chit-chat here and there about their lives and what they've been up to… but nothing compared to the glittering hues of blue, purple, and green that sprinkled itself like a paint brush across the skies, in ribbons of glory, only being drowned out by the light radiating in their hearts… the only distraction on this otherwise beautiful galaxy seen in the night.

The two were chuckling quietly beside the other, before Kairi lifted a hand to point at the moon, "Look! It's teasing the sea again."

"Teasing?" Sora looked up, dumbfounded, "How?" He scooted his head a little closer to hers, but kept his eyes on the moon. "It looks like a glowing rock to me."

"That doesn't mean it doesn't have it's own attraction, though." Kairi also, ever so delicately, and being too shy to pay much attention to it, let her cheek tilt lightly towards his upside-down from her direction forehead as well.

He looked up, unable to help but notice the warmth from her body heat pierce the cold and soothe his growing need to be with her. In all his travelings, this feeling never waned. Even when he was young, he always wanted to be close to her… but it was never quite at potent as it had been when he returned so many years back.

"The waves pull and tug between their emotions for each other." Kairi continued, digging her fingers into the sand and showing resistance, before letting go and scooting her palms to push the sand forward. It was similar in rhythm and movement as the tide, "It keeps trying to tell itself it's not possible to reach the moon, but then it goes back to reaching for it again. It's a beautiful love story, isn't it?"

Sora peered up, pushing his head against the sand and letting his hair get messy to tilt his chin up and get a better angle at what her hands were doing behind him on the sand.

His own hands were on his stomach, and he moved them off to lean himself for a better view.

"You could just turn around, you know. Silly head." Kairi giggled, and her laughter rang through like a bell to his ears, her being so close, the music of it delighted him into laughing himself.

"Haha, I know." He laid back down, "I always thought the sun and the moon were a thing… Always chasing, never meeting."

"The sun meets the moon, and vise-versa." Kairi turned her head to him, "That's when we get an eclipse-ah!" in that one, miscalculated moment… Kairi's nose lightly hit against him.

She swiftly turned her head back up, covering the lower portion of her face as Sora could feel her cheek on his forehead warm up.

His eyes wanted to look, and lightly did a few takes, but he heard her sneeze and snicker quietly to herself. He was unaware that his hair had tickled her nose and caused her to sneeze, which she was laughing at. She felt it was a funny act, and played it off as such.

He closed his eyes and smiled, enjoying being with her again after all this time had passed. He reached up his hand to point directly across from her, since they were laying in front of the shoreline, but positioned at it's right. His arm lifted up along the sandy beach to be above her own laid head and pointed out towards the ocean, "But then… don't the moon and sea meet at the horizon?"

Kairi thought about it, turning her head away from him as he looked at the back of her head, his own mind racing with thoughts of her as she admired the twinkling stars reflected on it.

"It still must pine for more, though… don't'cha think so?" when she turned her head back to him, he still had his head fully turned to her, so their eyes, although upside-down, were parallel to each other.

A galaxy left unexplored rested in the light of their own inner minds, swirling out in speckled stars within the color of their own hues…

"Y-yeah… guess it is kinda a lame story… huh?" Sora knew he had to speak but didn't really want to reply, he was too invested in the warmth from her. "It's warm." he finally stated, before heat swarmed his own cheeks at blurting out his admiring thoughts.

He looked down and away, pulling in his lips at his embarrassing folly, but Kairi's light breathing revealed her own 'pull' of attraction and her eyes batted and quickly looked away to try and sedate the sensation. "I-It is an island, Sora." she smiled and closed her eyes, feeling his hair tickle her chin now that she was tucking it down and withdrawing slightly.

Her forehead brushed up against the corner of his nose and cheek again, and he could smell the salty breeze in it.

He smiled too, relaxing and closing his eyes… "Yeah… Or maybe I've caught something."

"You're sick?" She leaned her head back up, lifting it slightly off the grainy sand. "Are you sure?" She lightly touched his cheek and the cold dissipated into a soft, low burn that made his eyes widened slightly, his pupils dilated as she then touched her own cheek.

"…That's not how you tell if someone's warm or not." Sora couldn't help but grin widely like a fool, clearly in the depths of the sea, bathed in the light of the moon.

Kairi blushed a little and lowered her fingers that had pushed lightly against her own cheek, nervous… but as her eyes lowered and rose back to meet his, she nudged herself closer and put her cheek up against his.

It was so soothing he thought he could fall right to sleep and dream forever.

Who needs blankets?

"…Hmm… You feel warm." she admitted, looking away as he saw her eyelashes from the framing of her eyes bat again. He couldn't see where she was looking, but lightly moved his nose and felt her eyebrow's hair glide against it.

"I feel cold… compared to you."

The small, miniscule gesture could have gone completely unnoticed, but as though drawn to the touch, Kairi gently and also very carefully joined the nuzzling sensation, each moving in tiny increments as though trying to disguise from the other what they were experiencing.

There was a soft sigh… barely audible, and when Kairi opened her eyes, she felt too many static pulses and rose up, breaking off the sliding of their cheeks and tapping of their noses together, their foreheads sharing warmth and rubbing against the sand…

She covered her face again and then brushed herself off, almost as though pushing the feeling back and getting up.

Sora immediately leaned up too, worried he had done something wrong, and sat upon the sand while she put her hands behind her back, and walked back passed him.

"Kairi..?! I'm-!" he wanted to say he was sorry, in case he really did overstep something, thinking maybe he had frightened her and she caught on to his careful play, not realizing she was enjoying being close to him in her own hidden way too. "Are… you okay?"

His hand lowered to between his resting legs, seeing as she stopped walking just a small ways away from where they were previously laying.

"Em-hmm." Kairi's hair drifted as she paused her walk, falling up and then down to rest from the movement. She was looking still as the night… but beautiful, ever just the same… even though he could only see her back-view. Was she looking down? Away at something? Had he made her uncomfortable..?

He was wracked to his core, thinking she may have caught on to him, and didn't know how to explain himself. He pushed down his lower lip again and furrowed his brow, regretting the poor moment of weakened judgement, "Em…" He was about to call out his supposed error and apologize, not wanting to let her go but keep by her side until she spoke out again.

"I'm just going to cool off at the pier. I got a bit… too warm… you're just so full of heat, Sora!" she turned to tilt and twist her body back, closing her eyes and giving him the brightest smile.

He grinned too, surprised and not following what she was implying, but was glad she wasn't leaving him behind.

He got up and raced to catch up to her as she waited for him and they both walked blissfully at peace by the other.

Sora put his hands behind his head as Kairi sat down at the edge of the pier, kicking her feet off and getting comfy.

She looked up at him and then the stars, which made him look down and back at her, deciding to sit next to her.

"Sora… The stars don't change… people shouldn't either." She nodded, and he listened intently, looking back at her as he kept one knee raised up with it's foot still on the pier, letting his wrist rest on it.

He studied her words and then nodded more enthusiastically back, strongly looking out towards the night sky full of stars too. "Yeah… but people don't really change, they grow. Things get bigger… more…" he suddenly felt her fingers move over his resting hand…

His eyes twitched as though to blink but didn't, he felt her pinkie and ring finger glide over his knuckles and then stop, inching with brief stops as though unsure if he was accepting this gesture or not.

He lifted his hand lightly, tilting it on it's wrist, and allowed her fingers to curl under and hold him as he did the same, gripping them from underneath his palm.

Like a shell, closing under the pearl to blanket it, he lowered his hand back as though to lock her kind expression of affection there and not remove it from his side.

"Expanded..?" Kairi replied, looking away but nudging her head down cutely, realizing he was accepting the invitation.

The touch kept that flickering flame aglow, but strengthened it deeper in their hearts.

"Yeah…"

The two didn't look at one another, possibly too embarrassed and shy to say anything, but it was clear they understood the other to perhaps like them mutually back as they secretly did the other.

But… was it so much a secret?

The two smiled in glee off from the other as Sora raised his other hand from his knee and scratched behind his head… this was something he'd always wanted to do… hold her hand… be there for and with her… but then-

Kairi tugged on his hand, pulling him down off the pier and into the water as he plummeted down, not letting go of her hand.

"Ahh!"

She laughed and gripped the pier with her free hand, turning her body as to not fall in.

He was half submerged from his waist down before flailing a bit to move back up towards the surface, but with her hand as an anchor, it wasn't too hard to get back to the pier.

"Hey! What's the big idea, Kairi?" he seemed startled, but that childish complaining made her laugh even more, trying to keep her strength about her and not laugh off the pier.

"Just cooling you off." she had felt he was her moon, and she was thrusting him into the sea…

But to Sora, he was like the ocean… and this time-

A sly and playful smile spread across his face as he curled his fingers tighter into her hand, readying as he lifted his foot to the wood under the pier, holding it steady.

He was going to pull her into him.

"Then maybe you should join me!" he ripped her from the top of the pier and the two dived into together, Kairi twisting to face the sea's surface but sinking down gently into the blue with her eyes closed from the impact.

Sora floated over her and opened her hand up to intertwined his own into it, and while her eyes squinted a moment from the shades of shadow and moonlight, she could see him eyeing her from above, as though asking permission.

Entranced by the dream-like floating, she opened her mouth slightly and pulled into him, and when he noticed her soft lunge for him, he joined it and the two shared a quiet, but heated declaration of affection…

Needing air again, Sora and Kairi released their holds, Sora pulling her from below and Kairi whisking her hands through his hair and moving from his head to holding from around his neck.

They both came up to the surface before Sora balanced his arms and swung them to keep himself afloat. Looking around, he reached up and grabbed the edge of the pier, then returned his determined arm to protectively holding Kairi up without her needing to kick or swim.

Hooked onto it, he looked down at her and skimmed his nose down the bridge of her own, making sure she was okay.

She bundled her hands to hide her face, peeking up at how close he was and tenderly surrendering to his hold… letting him keep her up from drifting into the push and pull of the waves again.

"Riptide." Sora gently whispered out, "I hear they're deadly…" He tried to be charming, but she splashed water in his face and grabbed the pier, pulling away from him and swimming off.

"Were you thinking I'd let you hold me all night?" She teased, sending the flame through the gunpowder wire and shooting him off like a rocket after her.

She laughed, before seeing him summon his keyblade and disappear under the water. She stopped and looked around, unable to see anything. Usually, the water was so clear during the day, but at night, it was like swimming through a mirror of the universe.

A large blast followed swiftly by her and she lifted an arm up while the raining splash pelted her quickly, and looking up, Sora had jumped and spun his keyblade to move swiftly through the water and double-jumped into a glide to find her.

He flew around her infinitely a few times, and she shook her head at his antics.

"Hehe… You gotta teach me how to do that." She moved to swim towards the shoreline but he cut her off, aiming and positioning himself to lightly drift to the water like a swan to a lake. "H-hey..!"

He offered her his hand and she took it, then placed it on his shoulder and used his keyblade to propel them through the tide towards the shore.

"Quite a propeller you have there." she teased.

"Would have come in handy when we had the raft." He kid right back, and the two slugged their way out of the water, soaking wet, but enjoying the night, just the same.

"Maybe you could train with me tomorrow?"

"Why tomorrow?" Sora looked back at her but then realized she was asking him on a date. He flipped a little, wigging out but composed himself after a second and walked back up to her, gesturing his an awkward but excited hand as he spoke. "I-wah-oh-uh-y-yeah! That would be great! I'll see you first thing tomorrow!"

She smiled, seeing he understood her. "Great, I'll bring a picnic."

"For breakfast?" he tilted his head, innocently naïve.

She chuckled into her hand, "No, goofball, for lunch. But if you're that in a hurry to see me that you won't at least have breakfast… then I'll bring some of that too." It would be a long but fruitful day tomorrow… in fact, the date might just last… for the rest of their lives~

He scratched the back of his head and smiled with a huge red streak across his face, and she darted up expertly to the side of him and delivered a farewell peck on his cheek, before rushing off and once again, covering the bottom-portion of her face with one hand as though unable to hide her feelings anymore.